Tomy Tutor

The Tomy Tutor, originally sold in Japan as the Pyūta (ぴゅう太) and in the UK as the Grandstand Tutor,[1] is a home computer produced by the Japanese toymaker Tomy. It was architecturally similar, but not identical, to the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A, and used a similar Texas Instruments 16-bit CPU.[2] The computer was launched in the UK and the United States in 1983. Outside Japan, however, sales were not significant.[3]

Tomy Tutor with Controllers
Also known asGrandstand Tutor (UK)
Pyūta (ぴゅう太) (Japan)
DeveloperTomy
ManufacturerMatsushita
Release date1982 (1982)
CPUTMS 9995
Memory16K RAM
The inside of the Tutor.

History

Produced by Matsushita, the computer was released in Japan in 1982 under the name Tomy Pyuuta.[3]

Tomy described the Tutor, with 16K RAM, as good for games and education. The company stated that its documentation would let an eight-year-old child use the computer without adult supervision.[4]

One of the major flaws pointed out with the Tutor was not its hardware, but its marketing: the Tutor was announced as a children's computer when in fact it was practically a cheap, evolved version of the TI-99/4A, even having a similar 16-bit CPU (the TMS 9995, closely related to the TI-99/4's TMS 9900);[2] other competitors in its price range still used 8-bit microprocessors.

The Tutor did not sell well against the ZX Spectrum in the UK and the Commodore 64 in other countries. It ended up being removed quickly from the market and replaced the following year by the Tomy Tutor MK II with a standard mechanical keyboard instead of the original "Chiclet"-style keyboard. However, the new model seems to have been sold only in Japan, and even then only for a short period of time.

The Pyūta Jr. was a console version of the Pyūta, released in April 1983[5], and similarly was only sold in Japan.

References
  1. Simon Beesley (October 1983). "Japan's Latest Contender [title visible on printed version]". Your Computer [UK]. Archived from the original on 2018-12-15. Retrieved 2019-07-19. Simon Beesley looks at [..] the Tomy Tutor, to be sold in this country as the Grandstand Tutor.
  2. TI-vs-Tomy, Floodgap.com
  3. "Tomy Tutor computer". oldcomputers.net. Retrieved 2018-10-27.
  4. Mitchell, Peter W. (1983-09-06). "A summer-CES report". Boston Phoenix. p. 4. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  5. http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com/pg80-pyuuta.htm#page=reviews

List of games
  • Baseball 3D (Japan-exclusive)
  • Battle Fighter 3D (Japan-exclusive)
  • Bomb Man (Japan-exclusive)
  • Car-azy Racer (USA-exclusive, developed by Wordwright)
  • Cave Crawlers (USA)/Maze Patrol (Japan)
  • Deep Six (USA)/Marine Adventure (Japan)
  • Donpan (Japan-exclusive)
  • Frogger (Japan-exclusive port of the 1981 Konami arcade game)
  • Hyperspace (USA)/Tron (Japan)
  • Jungler (USA/Japan, port of the 1981 Konami arcade game)
  • Loco-Motion (USA)/Guttang Gottong (Japan) (port of the 1982 Konami arcade game)
  • Mickey Athletic Land (Japan-exclusive)
  • Mission Attack (Japan-exclusive)
  • Monster Inn (Japan-exclusive)
  • Mr. Do! (Japan-exclusive port of the 1982 Universal arcade game)
  • Mystery World (Japan-exclusive)
  • Night Flight (Japan-exclusive)
  • Pooyan (USA/Japan, port of the 1982 Konami arcade game)
  • Rescue Copter (Japan-exclusive)
  • Saurus Land (Japan-exclusive)
  • Scramble (USA/Japan, port of the 1981 Konami arcade game)
  • Super Bike (Japan-exclusive)
  • Torpedo Terror (USA)/Bermuda Triangle (Japan)
  • Traffic Jam (USA/Japan)
  • Triple Command (Japan-exclusive)
  • Turpin (Japan-exclusive port of the 1981 Konami arcade game)
  • Yonin Mahjong (Japan-exclusive)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.